I am 36 weeks pregnant with my baby boy and hubby and I still haven’t decided on a name. I love the popular name ‘[name]Jake[/name]’ (formal [name]Jacob[/name] [name]Reed[/name]) but am concerned about popularity. Hubby seems to like nothing in fashion!
So, last night, at the suggestion of one of my friends who had the same problem, we tried a naming system.
I typed out the 29 names we’ve talked about. We each ranked them 1-10 and then I added our scores and determined the winners. We are going to vote again from these and possibly include some family to weigh in. Here are the top winners - we had ties for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Thoughts on favorites or other suggestions?
1st
[name]Carter[/name] [name]Whitaker[/name]-- The repeating -er doesn’t really sound nice. [name]Carter[/name] is a nice name on its own, but it’s just so rrrrr heavy. Many kids have a hard time saying their Rs, and if your son is one of them his name would be a doozy.
[name]John[/name] [name]Tyler[/name] ‘[name]Ty[/name]’ [name]Whitaker[/name]-- I really like this one. [name]John[/name] isn’t so common anymore, and the nn [name]Ty[/name] is rugged and boyish to me.
[name]Jacob[/name] [name]Reed[/name] ‘[name]Jake[/name]’ [name]Whitaker[/name]-- I can see why you like this one. It’s got a great sound, and [name]Jake[/name] is a really friendly nn. Lots of other people like it too, which is where you run into the problem. If you both really love it, I would go ahead and use it. There were always 3 or 4 [name]Michael[/name]/[name]Mike[/name]/Mikeys in my group of friends when I was a kid, and it never seemed to bother them. I think girls might be more sensitive to sharing names than boys are (like showing up to a party in the same outfit).
2nd-- These are all good, solid names. I think my favorite from the group is [name]Nathan[/name], I haven’t heard of a baby [name]Nate[/name] for a while.
[name]John[/name] [name]Whitaker[/name]
[name]Luke[/name] [name]Whitaker[/name]
[name]Nathan[/name] ‘[name]Nate[/name]’ [name]Whitaker[/name]
3rd
[name]Andrew[/name] ‘[name]Drew[/name]’ [name]Whitaker[/name]-- The double Ws are a little problematic for me. The name kind of gets lost somewhere in the middle.
[name]Oliver[/name] [name]Whitaker[/name]-- This has the repeating -er thing again, although it’s not as heavy sounding as [name]Carter[/name] [name]Whitaker[/name] was. I think this one could work, but it seems like a completely different style than all your other choices.
I hope my feedback is helpful. Good luck, and congratulations!
Thanks aftorres! Great feedback! I too had that same concern with the repeating -er’s in our name choices like [name]Carter[/name]. Too bad so many of the names I like end in -er!
I never thought that about [name]Drew[/name] or [name]Andrew[/name] but you are totally right when you say it out loud - too much W…
Everything you said validated my thoughts too… Hubby likes [name]Ty[/name] a little more than I do but I like it because it’s rugged and southern. My husband has a 7 year old from a previous marriage named [name]Eli[/name] which may be problematic with the rhyming - [name]Ty[/name] and [name]Eli[/name]. He says that’s one of the reasons he likes it. He thinks that’s cute.
[name]Jake[/name] is my all time favorite and I always pictured myself with a son named [name]Jake[/name]. It’s a good baby, teenager and grown man name. I like this one a litle more than hubby.
So I guess at this point, it’s just who is going to give in on the name! lol… thanks for your feedback, very helpful!
I quite like [name]Nathan[/name] and this name would be great with your stepson [name]Eli[/name]. [name]Jacob[/name] [name]Reed[/name] nn [name]Jake[/name] sounds very strong and masculine too but my only concern is the flow. I find the “R” in [name]Reed[/name] very difficult to say with the “W” in your surname [name]Whitaker[/name]. When I said it out loud a couple of times, I ended up talking like [name]Elmer[/name] Fudd :lol: . [name]Do[/name] try to convince your husband that [name]Eli[/name] and [name]Ty[/name] are just too cutesy for brothers. All the best!
[name]Carter[/name] [name]Whitaker[/name]- I dont really like the repeating -er endings, it makes it a little hard to say and ruins the flow imo. Plus [name]Carter[/name] is SO trendy. I actually know more Carters than I do Jacobs.
[name]John[/name] [name]Tyler[/name] ‘[name]Ty[/name]’ [name]Whitaker[/name]- [name]Ty[/name] is cute, but [name]Ty[/name] and [name]Eli[/name] are a little to rhymy. Why would you not just make his fn [name]Tyler[/name]? It would save you a lot of head aches I think.
[name]Jacob[/name] [name]Reed[/name] ‘[name]Jake[/name]’ [name]Whitaker[/name]- I love [name]Jacob[/name] and there is a reason it is so popular. My ten year old nephew is a [name]Jacob[/name], and he will even tell you how much he loves his name. Suprisingly, he is the only [name]Jacob[/name] in his class. [name]Just[/name] because a name is #1 does not mean it is that common any more. For instance, in 2009 there were ~ 20,800 little [name]Jacob[/name]'s born, compare that to [name]Michael[/name] 30 years ago and there were over 67,000 born in one year! That is over three times more. So if there were on average 3 Michaels in every class you can assumes there would be about 1 [name]Jacob[/name] in every class now a days (that of course is just an estimate and may not come true). I say go for [name]Jacob[/name], it is not nearly as common as you think and [name]Jake[/name] is just as rugged as [name]Ty[/name] is (if not more, I actually know girls named [name]Tyler[/name]).
From your 2nd and 3rd picks I like [name]Luke[/name] the best. [name]Luke[/name] has the same appeal a [name]Jake[/name] does to me and goes wonderfully with [name]Eli[/name].
Leah_9 - you and I are on the same page! I love [name]Luke[/name]! My dad’s cousin is named [name]Luke[/name] so I thought I might not be able to use it. Also, someone at work told me that it was becoming very popular so it might not be smart to pick it.
I’m starting not to care if the name is popular as long as I like it. Thank you for your kind words about [name]Jake[/name]. It’s funny you say it might not be as popular as you think because I asked my sister who has a 10 year old named [name]Cason[/name] if he had a [name]Jake[/name] in his class and she said no, not even one. I was worried it was a name that was popular too long ago. You know how when you start thinking of names when you start feeling the baby urge? Well, I felt the baby urge about 7 years ago but am just now having my 1st so I thought maybe I’ve been ‘holding on’ to [name]Jake[/name] for too long and it has gone out of style.
Sadly, I just don’t think the fantastic -er names work with our last name. Ironic because you would think our last name is pretty classic and easy to match.
I would go with [name]Jake[/name]! Where I live [name]Liam[/name] is the #1 boy name and I care for children and dont know even 1 [name]Liam[/name]. Popular names are not always as popular as people think. I only know 1 [name]Jacob[/name], and that is a good sign. No [name]Jacob[/name]'s in my son or my daughters grades at school. Pretty good sign I would say. I am in canada though. Not sure where you are.
Thanks Poptart8! That is good to know! I love the name [name]Liam[/name] but sadly my husband vetoed it as ‘too weird’… lol… He is very conservative with his names and most of the ones he likes end in -er which just don’t work with our last name.
This has been a hard process with me always coming back to [name]Jake[/name] and wishing it wasn’t so common!
You might besuprised by how much your son likes having the most popular name in the country. I know my nephew for one was thrilled to learn that [name]Jacob[/name] was so popular. It makes him feel like he has a nice name. Boys rarely care about standing out (at least my nephews dont). I dont think [name]Jacob[/name] will ever go out of style, I mean look at [name]Michael[/name] it is STILL in the top 5 and holding strong. There there will be less boys named [name]Jacob[/name] ever year sure, but that goes for all names. People are more likely to “branch out” to other choices, like [name]Liam[/name], only to find that there are three Liams in their sons kindergarten class. You can never go wrong with a classic imo. [name]Luke[/name] fits the clasic bill as well. What about [name]Luke[/name] [name]Tyler[/name] or [name]Jacob[/name] [name]Tyler[/name]?
I love [name]Luke[/name] too… problem with [name]Tyler[/name] is it ends in -er which is problematic with our last name [name]Whitaker[/name]. That’s why I think my husband’s favorite name [name]Tyler[/name] is out…
You are right about the popularity thing. [name]Michael[/name] is such a classic and I actually love that name and would probably consider it for a middle name except my stepfather is named [name]Michael[/name].
My mom even said she almost named me [name]Michael[/name] as a baby but my dad wasn’t having the boy name for a gir thing!
Yes, name him [name]Jacob[/name] [name]Reid[/name] [name]Whitaker[/name] I like the ‘i’ in [name]Reid[/name] which mirrors the ‘i’ in [name]Whitaker[/name].
I adore [name]Jacob[/name] [name]Reid[/name] [name]Whitaker[/name] and I think the popularty could be a problem.In my class ( I’m a teacher), there are often two or more people with the same name like:
[name]Taylor[/name] P.
[name]Taylor[/name] M.
[name]Taylor[/name] M.(often called [name]Taylor[/name] M. 2)
[name]James[/name] O.
[name]James[/name] W.
[name]Jacob[/name] Y.
[name]Jacob[/name] T.
[name]Jacob[/name] C.
[name]Tyler[/name] O.( [name]James[/name]’ brother)
[name]Tyler[/name] P.
And sometimes I fumble over them, especially if there is another [name]Jacob[/name] that looks just like them. My three friends who are named [name]Michael[/name] hated their names because of how humiliated they felt when their name was called in the hall and it wasn’t them the person was asking for, rather being told the person was looking for " the other [name]James[/name] with the curly brown hair, not you."
I am a teacher too and while I did have multiple students with the same name it only bothered me with trendy names example [name]Jayden[/name]. There will always be a few or more kids with classic names like [name]Jacob[/name] and [name]Daniel[/name] because they are classics. I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. The most important thing is that you use a name you love! I too have always pictured myself with a son of a certain name and if the current babe is a boy we’re going to use it!
What about the compromise of [name]Jacob[/name] [name]Tyler[/name] Whitacker